Sanitary sales tube for dispensing ice-cream cones



M y 1944. e. G. BUTTERMANN 2,349,074

TUBE FOR DISPENSING ICE-CREAM CONES SANITARY SALES- GAR'EV GEORGE BUTTE'EMA/VN Filed Feb. 8, 1940 Patented May 16, 1944 SANITARY SALES TUBE FOR DISPENSING ICE-CREAM CONES Garry George Buttermann, Louisville, Ky.

Application February 8, 1940, Serial No. 317,961

1 Claim.

My invention relates generally to devices for packing and dispensing food products, and specifically to sanitary tubes for packing and dispensing ice-cream cones. One of the objects of my present invention has been to develop a novel design of tubing adapted for use in keeping a limited number of ice-cream cones clean and sanitary and well protected against breakage while awaiting the process of intermittent dispensing in normal service. Another object of my invention in designing my new sales-tube for the safe and sanitary protection of a predetermined number of ice-cream cones, while being intermittently dispensed in normal counter-service, has been centered in the development of a salestube adapted to be vertically suspended from the fiat horizontal blade of a wall bracket and thus provided with two pairs of integral lapels separately sealed together at the upper end thereof;

while a predetermined portion of the lower one of the enclosed cones'will be visible projecting from the lower end of the sales-tube and securely held in its normal dispensing position by the flexibility of the fabricated lower end of the enclosing tube. Another object of my invention may be seen in the vertical window-slots in the front side of the sales-tube through which a person may quickly count the exact number of unsold cones remaining in the tube at the close of business for the day, that he may quickly ascertain whether the cash receipts correspond with the number of cones sold that day. These window slots may be readily sealed over with a sheet of transparent "Cellophane covering that the enclosed cones may be well-protected from the dust and moisture of the surrounding atmosphere.

Another object of my invention has been to fabricate and arrange the two pairs of lapels at the upper end of the sales-tube so that there will be a space between the two pairs of lapels separately sealed together for sliding between them the flat horizontal blade of a wall bracket from which the tube will hang in its normal position fordispensing service. And a further object of my invention has been the designing and fabrication of the lower end of my sales-tube, so that it could be depended upon to support the column of cones packed in the tube, but also to allow the projecting cone visible at the bottom of the tube to be drawn out easily in dispensing without injury to the cone.

The foregoing objects have been attained in my present invention; and my new and useful sanitary sales-tube for dispensing ice-cream cones illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification is a practical device embodying the aforesaid novel means and other new and useful details of construction, arrangement and combination of parts, all of which, together with their functions, will be described in detail with reference to said drawings, and will be definitely pointed out in the claim that follows this description, so that any person skilled in the art, may be able to construct and use this invention.

In said drawings,

Fig. l is an elevational view of the front face of my sales-tube, partly cut away to show the packing system of the cones therein. Fig. 2 is an elevational view of one of the equal side-faces of said tube, showing the pair of equal, opposite notches cut in the edges of the lowerend flaps for holding in operative position the two slender elastic bands designed to give a predetermined flexibility to the lower end of the tube to hold the bottom cone in position for ready dispensing.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a fragment of the front face near the upper end of said salestube, showing a front view of the two pairs of upper-end lapels open.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a side face of said tube near the upper end thereof, showing a side'view of the two pairs of upper-end lapels.

Fig. 5 is an upper-end view in perspective, of a fragment of said sales-tube, showing the two pairs of upper-end lapels open.

Fig. 6 is an upper-end view in perspective, of a fragment of said sales-tube.

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of a fragment of the front, and of one side face of the upper end of said tube.

Fig. 8 is a view of the lower part of the unfolded blank.

This invention has been designed and experimentally developed in its details of fabrication for the purpose of producing, at a minimum cost, a durable, convenient and sanitary tube for packing, as well as for dispensing, ice-cream cones; and with said purpose and the special objects aforesaid in view, I will now describe my invention more fully in detail, pointing out the new and useful features of the construction and the assembling of the individual parts and the combination thereof, as illustrated in the drawings hereinabove described, in which similar letters and characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the invention and development of my new sanitary sales-tube for dispensing ice-cream cones, I have for the sake of economy in production, designed the cone-tube I, the front face 2, the lower window slot I, and the three equal intervening window-slots, 6, 8, in the front face 2 of the tube I, also, the upper-end lapels and their scoring lines, as follows: the short lapel 2a and its horizontal scoring line 211, on the upper end of the front face 2; the long lapel ta. and its horizonta scoring line 4b cut across the upper end of the back face 4 of said tube; the extralong inner lapel 3a and its horizontal scoring line 3b made across the upper end of the left-side face 3, and the horizontal scoring line 30 out across the extra-long lapel 3a near the outer end thereof to form the narrow flap 3d; the long outer lapel 3'11 and its horizontal scoring line 3'?) made across the upper end of the right-side face 3' of said tube. At the same time, also, the lower-end flaps with their scoring lines, slits and notches, may be all die-cut at once with the other parts and features of said tube. Thus we have the two equal lower-end flaps 9, 9, with edges bevel-cut in the lower ends of the front face 2 and the back face 4, and an inverted generally V shaped scoring design 9a of a predetermined size and shape bisected by the short vertical slit 912, out upward from the bottom of each one of said flaps; also, we have the two equal lower-end flaps, Iil, I0, with edges straight-cut in the lower ends of the left-side face 3 and the right-side face 3 of said tube, and the equal notches, Illa, IDa, cut at the same height in the opposite edges of each of said flaps, I 0, I0, and similar an inverted generally V shaped scoring designs, Illb, Iflb, bisected by short vertical slits cut upward from the bottom of each of said flaps, In Fig. 1, on the tapered flap 9 is shown an inverted generally V shaped scoring design 9a bisected at its lower end with a short longitudinally-disposed open slit 912 out into the lower part thereof. And these same marks are made on the lower tapered flap 9 on the backside 4 of said tube. Also, these markings are made on the square flaps, I 0, I 0, on the right side and on the left side of said tube. where equal notches, Illa, Illa, are shown cut into the opposite edges of said square flaps a certain distance from the lower ends thereof, to hold in their service position the thin endless rubber bands I2, adapted as a means for urging the four opposed flaps toward the axis of said tube. These scoring designs and open slits are made in the two tapered flaps, 9, 9, and in the two square, straight-edged flaps, Ii), II], for the same purpose. These said marks and open slits help allow the cardboard of the flaps to bend readily to the pressure of the cone 8a in the lower end of the dispensing tube, thus giving the enclosed cone therein a gentle, and uniformly circular pressure, so the cone 8a will not be chipped when it is drawn from the lower end of the dispensing tube I.

Assembling and filling said cone-tube On the piece of card-board thus die-cut, I have made the cnventiona1 scoring lines between the flat faces of my rectangular cone-tube for the ready formation, of the corners thereof; and on one edge of said piece I have also made the conventional long attachment-lapel extending between said upper-end lapels and said lower-end flaps, and adapted to be glued to the inside of the opposite edge thereof in the formation of my rectangular cone-tube I.

In the assembling of the cone-tube I and in the packing of the cones therein, I next place into the four notches, Illa, Illa, cut into the opposite edges of the two flaps, II), II], two slender rubber bands I2 of predetermined strength adapted to support the column of cones 8 to be packed in the sales-tube and also to allow said cones to be manually drawn out one by one from the lower end of said tube in the act of dispensing, without injury to the delicate cones. For this purpose I make use of two slender rubber bands instead of one thick band, on account of the lack of uniformity in the flexibility of the thick bands, and also, I have found the slender bands more pliable and more durable in dispensing service. I next fill the cone-tube with twenty-five cones 8 packed as appears in the cut-opening and in the several window-slots, as shown in Fig. 1. I then bend down the short lapel 211 at the upper end of the front face 2, spreading glue upon its upper side, and press down the long lapel 4a upon the short lapel 2a, gluing them together. As the glue drys, I bend down over the two sealed lapels 2a and 4a, the extra-long inner lapel 3a On its scoring line 3b at the upper-end of the left-side face 3, at the same time folding down the narrow flap 3d, so that the lower edge thereof presses against the said sealed lapels. I then spread glue on the upper side of said extra-long lapel 3a and at once press down the outer long lapel 3a firmly upon the extra long lapel 3a, to glue the two lapels, 3a and 3a together. This act leaves a narrow horizontal space I la between the pair of inner lapels, 2a and 4a and the pair of outer lapels, 3a and 3'a, designed to allow the broad flat, horizontal blade of the wall-bracket I I to pass through for the suspension of the sales-tube in its normal position for the ready dispensation of ice-cream cones packed therein.

When the visible cone 8a, shown in Figs. 1

and 2, projecting fromthe lower-end of the salestube I, is manualy withdrawn in the act of dispensing, the cone next above it slides down by force of gravity into the same place, where it is arrested by means of the combined fabrication of said lower-end flaps and the gentle pressure in the flexibility of the two slender rubber bands I2. In like manner, all the cones in the tube I settle down to be drawn out, one after another, at the lower end of the tube, until the last one is drawn out.

In. the preliminary fabrication of said salestube, after the long narrow attachment lapel has been glued to the inside of the opposite edge thereof, and before the rubber bands I 2 have been applied to the lower-end flaps thereof, these empty tubes may be stacked flat in great quan tities within a small space for storage or other purposes.

However, in closing my specification I desire that it should be fully understood that the specific details of the various parts of the present embodiment of my invention, as I have illustrated in the drawings thereof and fully described, are not to be considered as limitations in the construction of my new sales-tube for packing, dispensing ice-cream cones; and that, While keeping within the scope of my instant invention and claim, I may make desirable modifications in these details to facilitate production or to economise in the fabrication thereof, provided I keep fully within the scope of my invention and claim.

Now, having thus described the various features of my invention, the detail construction, arrangement and combination of its parts, as well as its functions and the ways and means of its operation and application; those features and operations of my new sales-tube for packing and dispensing ice-cream cones, that I consider new and useful, for which I desire Letters Patent granted to me, I have hereinbelow set forth and specifically described in the following claim.

I claim:

A sanitary sales-tube of the character described for packing and dispensing ice-cream cones, said tube being constructed of one piece of cardboard and having at the lower end thereof one integral uniformly tapered flap on the front side and one on the backside thereof; one integral square straight-edged flap on the right side, and one similar fiap on the left side of said tube at the lower end thereof; equal notches cut in the edges of both said square flaps a certain distance from the lower ends thereof, for holding in their service position a plurality of endless thin rubber bands designed as a means for normally urging the four opposed flaps toward the axis of said tube to support the column of cones in said tube; an inverted generally V shaped scoring design on each one of said four flaps; and on a line bisecting said V at the lower part thereof a longitudinally-disposed open slit cut upward only a certain short distance from the lower end of each one of said four flaps, said short open slits and scoring designs being adapted to allow these integral lower end flaps to bend readily and hold the lower cone in said tube with a gentle, uniformly circular pressure, so that the cone will not be broken as it is drawn from said tube.

GARRY GEORGE BUTTERMANN. 

